Another Reason RFID Sucks

September 10, 2007

As if massive privacy concerns and identity theft were not enough reasons to worry about the wide spread use of radio frequency identification technology, now comes word that it it may also cause cancer. It seems that a series of veterinary and toxicology studies from the mid-1990s, found that RFID chip implants had “induced” malignant tumors in some lab mice and rats. Although the FDA has officially approved the chips for implanting in pets and limited use in humans, these studies found that lab mice and rats injected with microchips sometimes developed subcutaneous “sarcomas”, or malignant tumors, most of them encasing the implants.

Although the research is ongoing, I’m seriously thinking about having the RFID chips in our pets removed. Some people think all this FUD is hogwash, and that RFID is perfectly safe and secure. To them I say, have you ever had chemotherapy? I have, and let me just say it’s no day at the beach. If you’d like to gamble with an aggressive form of cancer that can kill you in as little as 3-6 months just to prove your pet theories, be my guest! The chips are even mentioned by bible enthusiasts as one of the signs of the end times for Pete’s sake! Do you really want to portend the apocalypse AND go through localized radiation therapy? No, I didn’t think so.

Earlier this month, California passed a law forbidding companies from forcing their employees to have RFID chips implanted in them. I plan on writing our representatives and asking them to support the very same measure here in NC. The chips pose serious threats to security, personal liberty and now, health. As far as I’m concerned, they can’t be banned fast enough. Now excuse me while I finish that Book of Revelations.

Doesn’t seem to take a top surgeon to figure out that when you put a small glass capsule embedded under your skin, that your body isn’t going to like it. I wonder what is the difference between these applications and say, artificial joints and organ replacements.

For pets, I read that the risk of your pet getting lost is much higher than the risk of cancer – # pets lost because of no id >> # pets dying of cancer. I know of one dog that died from its collar, and one of our dogs got its bottom k9 caught on the other’s collar and almost choked it. Had we not been home to get the collar off…

Implanting RFID in people??? Talk about invasion of privacy.

RFID is extremely useful, and will make asset/inventory tracking much quicker and more accurate. Sure it can be misused, but it should be a net positive.